Worship

We worship twice on Sundays at the Spring Valley Lake Community Building (directions):

  • 10:00 AM — Communion service (see requirements below)
  • 11:45 AM — Catechetical service

Nursery care is provided during the first service. Refreshments are provided between services.

What is Reformed worship?

As a Reformed church, we regulate our worship services in accordance with the Bible. The Second Commandment, in short, states, “You shall not make any idols” (Exodus 20:4). Heidelberg Catechism answer 96 interprets this to mean “that we in no way make any image of God, nor worship Him in any other way than He has commanded us in His Word.” Therefore, our church’s worship contains the same central elements as the early church’s worship recorded in Acts 2:42: preaching, the sacraments, and prayer.

The Word of God makes it plain that worship must focus on Jesus Christ, the savior of God’s people. Our worship services are intended to do just that. We believe that when our worship is regulated by the Bible and focuses on Christ, it will honor God, and we, as God’s people, will be encouraged and grow in faith.

Requirements for Participating in Communion

The Scriptures admonish us to take seriously the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, warning us to examine ourselves carefully. Therefore we ask you to refrain from the sacrament if you are in scandalous, unrepentant sin. If, however, you confess your sin and look to Christ for your salvation, then Christ invites you to His table to forgive your sins, assure you of your salvation, and strengthen your faith. The Scriptures also warn us to discern the body of Christ diligently — that is, to recognize that Christ is spiritually present in the Supper. We carefully fence the Lord’s Table in order to fulfill our duty as stewards faithfully, and to protect participants from taking the sacrament unworthily and eating to their damnation.
Therefore, to participate in communion:

  • You must believe in the spiritual presence of Christ in the sacrament. This means you believe that, just as surely as you receive the elements of bread and wine with your mouth, so surely does the Holy Spirit feed you through faith with the true body and true blood of Christ, for the forgiveness of sins and the assurance of salvation.

  • You must be a member in good standing (not under church discipline) of a Reformed or Presbyterian Church. This means your church must have formal membership, which requires you to believe and practice either the Three Forms of Unity (for Reformed churches) or the Westminster Confession of Faith (for Presbyterian churches). If you are not a member in good standing of such a church, we ask you to refrain from participating in communion. We are not asserting that Christians are only found in Reformed and Presbyterian churches; rather, we are being careful to administer communion to those who belong to churches that share a common confession of the Christian faith.

  • Children of believers must first have made a public profession of faith after being examined by their church elders.

If you have any questions or concerns about participating in communion, please see the pastor or one of the elders before the worship service.